


Dragonkin - Book 2: Children of the Earth

by Weatherwax



Series: Dragonkin [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ambiguous moral sets, Bigotry & Prejudice, Blood and Gore, Dark Fantasy, Disturbing Themes, Dragonkin, M/M, Magic, Monsters, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, m/m - Freeform, mature themes, medieval setting, world-building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 11:01:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13634949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weatherwax/pseuds/Weatherwax
Summary: With the elusive, strange Ms Butterfly, our heroes travel into the Wild, the land of the most dangerous monsters in the world, in preparation to the war to come. Strange events and adventures soon begin to unfold.





	Dragonkin - Book 2: Children of the Earth

Briam watched as the woman – unbelievably fat to the point of being spherical, a nearly perfect ball over two short legs – dragged herself to sit on one of the rotting logs the Shadows used around the camp.

She looked old, but Briam had learned, like all healers, the difference between age and pain. The woman’s brown eyes held such a deep well of pain he felt discomfort just from looking at her.

Her short hair was also a strange thing; unlike regular old people it wasn’t only one color, but white strands were mixed in it. The result was strange, white strands mixed with leaden gray.

She wore ragged brown robes and cloak, but no shoes, and her ankles were thick, feet swollen and sick with an angry red color and nasty, bleeding blisters.  

The Outcast men had been freed of their spell, and now gathered wood to make a fire close to her. The children looked up at her with wide eyes, and many talked to her in hush voices, while the women hurried to get things: a large tin, water, soap, towels were quickly brought out, and soon Flora and the Shadow matriarch were busy washing Butterfly’s feet.

“Are you just going to stand there?” Fran asked him in an irritated voice as she passed by. “Can’t you see the poor woman needs healing? Come on!”

He followed grudgingly, not able to pin exactly what was it that made him feel ill towards the old Outcast, but feeling it, nonetheless.

It wasn’t only him, it seemed. Taenth looked upon the newcomer with a mighty frown, a few yards away. Mint was quietly hovering by, as if unsure of what to do; and Eris seemed both fascinated by her and afraid of leaving his father alone.

“Mistress Butterfly? May we help heal your wounds?” Fran asked, crouching next to her, “Or would you like something to drink, or eat?”

“No, thankee,” Butterfly said, and the corner of her mouth rose a bit. “Too far gone for it.”

Flora’s head snapped up.

“Already? Why did ye come here then?”

“Wouldna strayed off me path if twasn’t for the war, child. Time to face the Beast is nigh, and the Wildlings had to come together. Tis why I came to ye, to send word they’ll ally with the Red king against her, and warn ‘im about ‘er, too.”

“Um… excuse-me? Too far gone for what?” Fran asked, worried.

The other women blinked.

“Oh, I‘m sorry, o’course ye don’t know. I‘m dyin’ at the moment, can’t drink or eat,” Butterfly explained. “Me body unmakes itself now and then, that’s why I‘m called Butterfly,” she explained. “Tis sad this time tho, me guts went afore I could finish me berries,” she said, and pulled a pouch from under her cloak.

The Outcast women ran, but before Briam and Fran could ask what was wrong, Butterfly opened the pouch, and they understood.

Whatever was inside the leather pouch it made their hair stand on end and their nostrils stop working, it smelled that foul.

“Skies help me!” Briam shouted, covering his face with his sleeve and waving the air in front of him as he tried to crawl backwards, and grunted as someone trampled him in the other direction.

“Hello,” Eris said, kneeling in front of Butterfly and nearly diving nose-first in the pouch with the stinking berries. “What are those? Can I have some? They smell delicious. Where did ye get them? Mmnnn…”

She laughed heartily.

“Finally, a soul with taste for the good things in life,” she exclaimed.

“Delicious? _Odorable_ , you mean,” Fran retorted, both hands over her nose and mouth.

“Cacodorous,” Mint helped from a good eight yards away.

“Buckish would be a compliment, really,” Taenth said, wiping tears away.

“Have the lot, young drake, lest they spoil” Butterfly offered, and Eris pulled a handful of spiky little dried things, popping one of them in his mouth.

His eyes rolled.

“Oh skies above have mercy, this is so good, it tastes like… like… I can’t even explain it,” he said, and shoved the rest of the handful into his mouth, moaning with pleasure.

Taenth pulled Flora by the arm and took some distance.

“Are you sure that’s not poisonous?” he asked, suspicious, and she laughed.

“No, tis just incredibly stenchy. We dunno where she gets ‘em, but tis heard sometimes a babbie or two try it, and nothin’ ever happened to ‘em except they spits it right off,” she explained, her eyes shiny with humor.

Eris was now (after re-tying the skin and securing it into his own bottomless pouch) running after Briam, yelling “But it’s delicious, give us a kiss, you’ll like them!” while Mint and Fran pretended they didn’t know him.

He strode to the log and stopped, crossing his arms.

“What is it you want?”

“Oh good, a king who doesn’t waste time,” she replied, and patted the log at her side. “Please sit, me neck hurts if I look up too long.”

He sat, huffing.

“This problem with yon Black king ain’t as simple as one man wantin’ to control the world. Behind ‘im there is someone much, much stronger. A Beast, one that’s been underground since the Tree fell, and has now come back to finish what it started by enslaving the Dragonkin to its will,” she said. “Ye’ll need much more than just the Outcast to free yer people. Ye’ll need the Wildlings, all o’ them. So I went to gather ‘em for ye, but,”

“What is your price?” he asked bluntly, and she nodded.

“Aye, there’s a price. In pulling the tribes together an’ convincin’ them to fight with ye I spent too much o’ me time, an’ now I’m too weak to make me journey back alone,” she explained. “I need an escort, an escort o’ champions who can protect me.”

At that point, Eris and Briam were close to them again, having come around the round clearing.

“We’ll do it,” Eris said, halting in front of them. “We’ll take you to wherever you need to be, me friends and I,” he said, waving his hand nonchalantly.

“Eris!” Taenth growled, livid, while Briam’s eyes nearly fell off their sockets and both Mint and Fran came closer, startled.

“Da, tis fine, we’ll just take her there, meanwhile ye get everything settled and we’ll meet to get the battle going,” Eris said calmly.

Taenth sputtered, and Briam dragged Eris away.

“Eris how can ye trust this woman just like that? Tis like ye and the Outcast ‘ve been enthralled or something! Besides, look at ‘er! How are we going to take such a burden anywhere in times o’ war? Two kingdoms are after all Halflings, and ye especially have a bounty on yer head!”

Eris turned thunderous eyes at him.

“Are ye sayin’ the word of all the Outcast women is for naught? The woman’s been travelin’ here all the way from the Wild to offer us help, how can we turn our backs on her? ‘sides, how can _ye_ call her out on her size?” he growled.

Briam backed away a step, shame coloring his face.

“That… that’s not what I…”

“Oh, really? What was it then?”

Briam fumbled, unable to pinpoint it exactly.

“I… I dunno, I just don’t like her! Tis me gut tellin’ me, this woman is trouble!”

“Well, _me_ gut is tellin’ me she’s no threat. What’s she going to do to us? Poor woman can hardly move, Briam. But ye know, if ye don’t want to go, tis fine with me, stay and help Da then,” Eris said, exasperated, and turned to the others. “This goes for the lot o’ye. If it comes to it, I’ll help ye alone, madam Butterfly.”

Everyone went quiet for a long while.

“‘m going too,” Asa said.

“If she’s going I’m coming along, she’s too careless and you’re too stupid to be let loose without a healer,” Fran said.

Mint moved to Eris’ side without saying anything.

Briam gave them a betrayed look, but huffed, defeated.

“Fine. But I’m coming too.”

Eris grinned.

“Good, we can go today then, we’ve packed already,” he said, and left towards the larger hut.

Taenth crossed his arms and glared at Butterfly.

“My son can’t take you. He is being hunted down by both Blacks and Whites, by order of Lord Kemoth himself. Tis all we could do to protect him in here, as soon as people see their hair, milady, you will all be captured,” he said, his voice stern.

The woman raised a finger, and rummaged around her filthy satchel for a while, before motioning for him to stretch his hand. He did so, warily, and she put a necklace made of braided hair in his hand.

“Go on, put it on,” she said, and he gave her a warning look. “Tis nothin’ but a charm for avoiding the exact same thing ye’re talking about, which burdens me as well,” she said, pointing at her own strange hair.

He looked at the necklace closely. The hair used to braid it was a strong, chestnut brown. He sighed, and put it on.

Everyone around him gasped.

“What?” he asked, and Fran ran to the hut, coming back a minute later with a small silver mirror in her hand. He looked at himself, and his jaw fell. His hair had all become brown, as had his eyes.

“Ye can keep that one, I’ve more. Always need them things this time o’ life, so I keep a bunch with me all the time,” she explained, and handed one to Mint, who put it on after smelling it.

“I don’t recognize this smell,” he said, and frowned at where Asa and Fran were staring openly at him. “What?”

“Go get yer things, mates, we gotta… get…” Eris said as he approached, and stopped, flabbergasted at the sight. “Da, ye’re Brown,” he commented, intelligently, and his eyes quickly moved, taking in Mint’s appearance, to which he snorted a couple of times, before falling into a fit of laughter.

“Oh skies! My eyes betray me!” he exclaimed, giggling. “Has anyone seen His Mintness? All I see before me is a Brown, and I know it can’t be him, for he wouldn’t be caught dead looking like a peasant!”

Mint’s face closed off, and Eris’ laugh became a croak.

“Seems to me we won’t need four of those, we can take Eris as he is now and have Mint dispel ‘im when we need,” Asa commented from her perch on the log, and the toad jumped, croaking indignantly.

“I agree. Besides, it’d save us on supplies,” Fran said, accepting the necklace from Butterfly and putting it on, before passing another to Briam.

Eris jumped on Butterfly’s lap, raising himself on his hind legs and giving her a soulful look, before croaking sadly.

“Hmmm,” Taenth said, scratching his beard, “No one will be looking for a toad, so I guess he’d be safe.”

Eris turned around and croaked angrily at him.

“Well, I’m not carrying him, sorry. Everyone who knows anything knows toads give you warts,” Briam said, and Eris stopped his croaking, looking speculatively at him before turning around and jumping at Mint, who started backing away.

“No! Bad frog! Bad!” Mint yelled, batting at him. “Not the face!” he screeched, and slipped in the muddy ground, falling backwards, the toad propelling itself in the air and falling towards him as he dispelled in a hurry.

His breath went out in an oof as Eris fell on top of him, and grabbed his hands, stretching his arms to the sides.

“ _Eris_ …” he warned, and Eris grinned wickedly, before licking him from chin to forehead and jumping up.

“Let that count as a warning of what will happen next time. Thank ye, Briam!” he said smugly, extending Mint a hand.

Mint took it, feeling his ears burn and fighting the blush with his entire being as he was pulled up. He avoided Eris’ eyes and that made him look at his mouth instead; he caught the tongue darting out to lick his lips, and such outrage took over him, he rubbed his muddy hand all over Eris’ face.

* * *

 

 

It was but a couple of hours later that the two groups left the Shadow encampment, the large caravan comprised of most of the Forsaken and Shadow due southwest, the small party escorting Butterfly due east.

“Son,” Taenth said, putting his hands on Eris’ shoulders. “Be careful.”

Eris grinned. “Ye as well, Da. Master, please take care o’ him, and yersel’,” he completed, hugging them both. “We’ll be back soon to meet ye at Ide’ar Fen.”

 Taenth watched as they parted ways.

“Stop worryin’, ye big fat hen,” Drugum said, and slapped his shouder. “Let’s move, afore Razor Abel decides we died and the dwarfs start usin’ yer kin as beasts o’ burden.”

* * *

 

 

“No, we couldna got a cart, ‘m afraid. The less I use me limbs the quicker they break, see,” Butterfly replied in a resigned tone, dragging herself forward with the help of a sharply pointed, gnarly wooden cane and what ended up being a huge sack of rocks hanging from her back, which gave her the spherical look and she used as counterweight to her enormous gut.

“How far are we going?” Mint asked.

“All the way into Elven lands,” she answered in the same resigned voice, and Mint stopped on his tracks so suddenly that Briam collided with his back.

“Uh… how will we hide from the elves?” he asked quite intelligently and his voice went only a tad squeaky at the end, considering his shock.

“Elves?” Briam muttered behind him, and wailed. “I knew it, she’s gonna feed us to them monsters!”

Eris blew a cheerful raspberry from up front, and the two girls passed them shaking their heads.

Butterfly stopped, huffing, and turned back at them.

“We need to get to them ‘cause they’re the only ones can still navigate the Circle Sea. No need to go makin’ a storm in a teacup; Elves ain’t been cannibals since…” she tilted her head and squinted upwards, counting under her breath,” ‘bout the time the last Kin adventurers mess’d with ‘em, that’d be wha, ‘bout the time ye Blacks stopped usin’ whippin’ boys…”

“Three hundred and fifty years,” Mint completed automatically. “And I’m a Black, they might not hurt you, but they’ll make fritters out of _me_.”

Eris turned-about and walked straight to his face.

“They’d have to go through _me_ , first. Immune to fire, remember?” he said, proudly slapping his gauntled hand to his own breastplate. “Now quit gabbin’ and get goin’, it’ll be donkey years afore we get there anyway.”

Mint’s eyes stayed widened for a few seconds, even after he obediently shut up and started moving again.

* * *

 

 

They traveled hard with only a brief break for a meal and had crossed two waypoints – as Butterfly called the gates that teleported them long-distance –before they stopped to rest, late enough that Mint’s arm was pained with the effort of controlling the light orb that illuminated the path, along with the now familiar queasiness. The scenery had radically changed, from spring-touched forestry in more or less flat lands to open prairies over broken hills. Farther East they could see the high mountain ridge still covered in snow that separated the White kingdom from the Wild lands.

“The Scar in the Wold’ll be on the other side o’ the ridge,” Butterfly said as they made camp. “Travel shall be brutal up yon mountains, and after we cross tis bound to be even harsher,” she amended, before dropping off her counterweight satchel with a pained grunt and beginning to move away, but Eris intercepted her, concerned.

“Why are ye leaving?”

She lowered her head.  “Ye need yer sleep, an’ soon as me bones hit the earth the pain’ll hit me hard enough to scream. Tis not easy on the ears, young drake,” she said, and swallowed dry before patting his arm and turning to leave.

He held her arm lightly. “We don’t mind. Please stay, and talk to us?” he asked kindly, and her hooded head nodded after a moment.

Eris led her towards the others, and helped her sit down away from the fire, as requested.

Briam watched in silence, sitting closer to Fran, who was busy adding tea leaves to the water boiling in the kettle, while Mint cut some jerked meat into portions and passed them around.

Mint moved to give Eris his share, and sat next to him.

“Ms. Butterfly, right? What sort of Halfling are you?” he asked, point-blank, and she gave him a sharp look and a smirk.

“I ain’t no Halfling, milord. But I think ye suspected that, didn’t ye?”

He nodded, and she returned the gesture.

“Me people survived the Great Poison what happened when the Tree was felled. Her blood tainted the waters in all the land but the very highest, where the Everfrost still holds.”

“We thought no one survived but Dragonkin,” Eris said, before pushing his meat at Mint and stealing his hardtack.

“No one but us, yep. We was too afraid to come down. See, we was the ones who took care o’ the Tree. We was scared off by the armies what came to burn it down, and we was scared that the dragons was going to kill everyone, they were so mad. Twas betrayal, the worst kind, for they were made to protect us, see. An’ then humans go and steal their magic, cos _accourse_ we couldna be happy with what we had already got,” she explained, frowning. “So we went hiding, an’ later on when the Browns started appearing we came down and started living around the towns and cities, and because of what little magic we have, that we use to make yon magic weapons and trinkets you use and that gives us the Sight,” she motioned to Asa, who had already wrapped herself in her cloak and was sleeping next to the fire, “they and the Kin hated us; those who didn’t breed with us and some of those who did, too. That’s where the Unburdened came about, so the wymin were safe, if not from rape, from bearing the seeds o’ it.”

“You said there was a beast, before. Can you tell us more?” Mint asked, and she shook her head wearily.

“That tale is for another day, ‘m sorry milord. We should sleep, those who can.”

The strain in her face was obvious, so Mint didn’t push the subject further and left to tidy a spot to sleep in.

It wasn’t chilly, this night, so he laid his bedding a bit farther from the fire. Fran and Briam had been quiet while eating so not to disturb Asa’s sleep and to settle their stomachs from the waypoint queasiness, and were now settling down by the fire; Mint would’ve been quiet as well, if not for his curiosity, and Eris stealing off his bread had probably helped his stomach, for he didn’t feel as bad as he had earlier.

At least he wouldn’t have to worry about Eris bothering him, he thought. It was warm enough that Eris had started to subtly shed off pieces of clothing during the journey, and soon he’d start becoming irritable from the heat; he had already set his bedding as far from the fire as he could without entirely leaving their camp site.

* * *

 

 

_So warm._

_Foggy mind was catapulted off from sleep._

_Too warm._

_Rough cloth was pulled from sweaty skin._

_Better, but not much. A nice snow bank would be ideal, streeeeeeeeeeetching and cooling off deliciously..._

_Wait. Was that a cold draft?_

_It was, coming from... there!_

_Heatsink was an unknown name, but the concept was clear; somewhere to dump off the heat._

_A satisfied purr as the perfect cuddle was achieved to obtain maximum contact._

_Deep, happy slumber followed._

* * *

 

 

Fran mumbled in complaint, but woke and quieted down when she felt a finger across her lips.

Asa’s hand helped her sit up, and Fran gave her an inquisitive look, to which she answered by pointing across the clearing, illuminated only by the embers of their fire.

Fran had to cover her mouth and nose to stifle the laughter, before she was able to stand and follow Asa a bit aways from the camp.

“So... should we wake ‘em up then?” Asa asked in a whisper, a mischievous smirk dancing in her lips.

Fran snorted, and sputtered a bit before regaining control.

“No! Milord Black will never survive the embarassment. Oh skies, what was that fool thinking?”

“Don’t think there was no thinking into that, milady,” Asa said, and they giggled under their breaths. “Ye think they’ll believe if we pretend to wake after them?”

“Hmm,” Fran thought. “I think they’ll pretend they believed it, at least. And Asa?” she pulled her close. “Thanks for showing me,” she whispered humorously in her ear before moving back to her bedding.

Asa took a deep, unsettled breath before going back to hers.

* * *

 

 

Mint, despite all his rigorous self-discipline, like any young man was subject to being hard for the usual biological reasons, so his mind was focused more on his bladder than on his erection when he awoke, a little before dawn.

The hardness pressing between his legs and the weight over him, accompanied by a particularly familiar soft snore _right in his ear_ , however, nearly gave him a heart attack.

He rolled his eyes down in dread, not daring to move his head, and froze as he saw the arm and leg thrown over him in a bear hug and realized he could not only see the skin on those limbs but also feel the whole landscape of Eris’ anatomy through his roughspun robes, which meant the man was nude. _Naked_. **_Starkers_**.

Frost formed unwittingly over his own skin. Eris made a contented sound and pulled Mint closer seeking more contact.

Mint didn’t know what he wanted more, to burrow under the earth and disappear forever in shame, because his body was now responding to the situation more than to his bladder, or to simply kill Eris and be rid of the aggravation.

No, he thought. First he’d turn Eris into a frog, then he’d eviscerate, skin, season, cook and serve him to the wild animals, and _then_ he’d burrow under the earth to disappear forever in shame, and he’d do all those things as soon as he was able to extricate himself from under the burly – skies, but Eris was heavy, bloody hellfire... – naked _muppet_ currently draped all over him.

And then Eris woke with a snort, and Mint reflexively held his breath for a heartbeat, before forcing himself to let it out slowly to pretend he was still asleep.

Mint saw Eris’ arm pass in front of his face, and heard as Eris rubbed his face, yawning, a long, satisfied yawn that was cut short with a gasp.

‘ _Now_ this ninnyhammer notices?’ Mint thought, closing his eyes and relaxing his face for what was surely to come next; Eris pushing himself up on his other arm to see if he was awake. ‘Please don’t get a sudden attack of wits and just _leave_ as if I was really sleeping, you dunderpate!’

Mint held the pretense as best he could while feeling Eris’ hot breath over his face in apparent study while quietly moving his leg away and easing his weight off carefully, slow as a stuffy summer day, and only let himself tremble when he heard the crushing of leaves and a hushed curse a good six yards away. He was nearly crying in pain when he got the courage to get up and go empty his bladder, a lot later.

* * *

 

 

When they stopped for a midday meal and a bit of rest, Eris grabbed Briam and dragged him away, not very subtly.

“What?” Briam asked, irritated, when they stopped.

“Is there something healers can do to stop people sleepwalking?” Eris asked, and Briam had to double-take. Eris had been jumpy all day, and now he was beet-red and looking strangely guilty.

“What happened?” Briam asked back, and Eris covered his face with both hands.

“Um... uh... I woke up starkers next to Mint today,” he said, and Briam’s eyes nearly fell out.

“You _what_? Bloody skies, how are you alive right now?” Briam exclaimed, snorted, and had a fit of giggles.

“I got away without waking him, somehow. Stop laughing, ye lubberwort! I’m being serious here, I nearly gave up the ghost when I saw him under me!”

Briam sputtered, and had to brace his knees with his hands not to fall on his butt from laughing.

“ _Under_ you? Prrrrrrrrft, why am I never present to witness these things? Bwahahahaha!”

“Be _quiet_! They’ll hear us!” Eris squealed, and covered Briam’s mouth, punching him lightly on the sides in an attempt to make him stop.

“Mnnhfff! Owhf! Ow ffthp!”

Eris let go of him, and Briam looked at him, immediately having to turn about unless he’d have another humorous fit. His poor friend was red everywhere, from his forehead to his neck, and ears besides.

“Fine, so... um... how can you be certain you sleepwalked?” he asked, breathing hard through his nose to regain control.

“How I can be... I woke up stark naked nearly on top of the man, _that_ is how! What do you think, some willy-nilly forest faerie pulled a prank on us? Stop asking useless questions and find me a way to stop it!”

“Control yourself, lad, I’m just not sure why you’d go about doing that to poor Mint... oh, what am I saying, the way you ogle him...”

“It has nothing to do with that!” Eris squeaked. “I would never!”

Briam took a deep breath and put a hand on his waist, rubbing his forehead with the other.

“Very well, then. What do you remember from last night? Try to recall all you can, anything might help.”

“Um... I dunno, all I know is I went to sleep in me smallclothes for the heat, and I woke feeling much better, freshened, even. Don’t even remember dreaming or anything.”

“Well, no doubt, seeing that you took all your smallclothes off...” Briam jeered, and Eris punched his shoulder.

“I’m serious, ye snoutband! If this happens and he catches me I am a dead man!”

“Permanent frog, more like it.”

“Uuuurgh! I am not eating flies again, Briam, I swear, if ye don’t fix this I’ll hop after ye to the end of the earth!”

Briam chuckled silently for a while, and then took pity on his friend.

“All right this is what we’ll do, I’ll ask Fran for a sleeping spell to help you tonight. How does that sound?”

Eris took a relieved breath, and thanked him.


End file.
